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Topic: Favorite MMM article? (Read 6270 times)

Last year around March I found MMM, and after devouring the first couple I could not stop reading more, more, more. It probably would have been better to consume them in smaller chunks instead of just devouring them, but I just did not have the self control. So, in the spirit of going back and maybe paying closer attention to some of them, let me know what your favorite MMM articles are. Alternatively, tell me the ones that you found the most beneficial, or the ones that you like to go back to even now that you are a Mustachian :).

To start us off, this is one that I went back to today and was surprised at how helpful it still was in giving me ways to improve my Mustachian tendencies even more. I've dropped my monthly spending by almost 1,000$ since joining MMM, but this article made me realize that I can get rid of those last few remaining "convince myself I should buy stupid things" types of thoughts.http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/09/18/is-it-convenient-would-i-enjoy-it-wrong-question/

favorite line from this article..."Would you, by any chance, like a catheter and a bedpan to go with that?" ~~Mr. Money Mustache

I've had a "I am rich in proportion to the things I can do without" printout in my wallet for years. Never knew it was a variation attributable to Thoreau. Can't tell you the number of times it has stopped me from a stupid spending mistake.

Logged

“Economy is a poor man’s revenue; extravagance a rich man’s ruin.” -Lydia Maria Francis Child, The American Frugal Housewife: Dedicated to Those Who Are Not Ashamed of Economy

"The taste of the bait ain't worth the pain of the hook."-Porter Freeman

Loving going back to these so far. Jill's situation is also where I hope to be at the end of all this corporate madness. Its nice to read these from the more relaxed position of feeling like I've got this all under control now. Its funny because if someone had asked me this time last year (pre MMM) about my financial situation I would have told them I was doing great! No debt! saving like 100$ into the good old savings account a month! Contributing to the 401k up to the match on top of that! Now I look back and shake my head at how frivolous I was.. perspective is a wonderful thing.

Loving going back to these so far. Jill's situation is also where I hope to be at the end of all this corporate madness. Its nice to read these from the more relaxed position of feeling like I've got this all under control now. Its funny because if someone had asked me this time last year (pre MMM) about my financial situation I would have told them I was doing great! No debt! saving like 100$ into the good old savings account a month! Contributing to the 401k up to the match on top of that! Now I look back and shake my head at how frivolous I was.. perspective is a wonderful thing.

I only started 2 months ago and I look forward to see how much better I'm doing at the end of the first year. :)

I wasn't doing awful previously, but I was certainly throwing away money that I could have been investing so that I can escape the rat race much sooner. Now I'm excited for the future. Excited to eventually be where Jill is. :D

I'm surprised no one has commented on this. It's my favorite because I can relate so much. I don't know how often I think something along the lines of "geez, this person speaking to me is so sensitive & delicate that they can't tolerate <vanishingly small & insignificant "hardship">". But it always seemed like I was the only one.

It turns out that when it boils right down to it, your time to reach retirement depends on only one factor:

Your savings rate, as a percentage of your take-home pay

If you want to break it down just a bit further, your savings rate is determined entirely by these two things:

How much you take home each year

How much you can live on

While the numbers themselves are quite intuitive and easy to figure out, the relationship between these two numbers is a bit surprising.

If you are spending 100% (or more) of your income, you will never be prepared to retire, unless someone else is doing the saving for you (wealthy parents, social security, pension fund, etc.). So your work career will be Infinite.

If you are spending 0% of your income (you live for free somehow), and can maintain this after retirement, you can retire right now. So your working career can be Zero.

I know it doesn't tell you anything about investing and index funds or exactly what to cut back on etc, but it does highlight the very simple equation that you're trying to alter to affect one thing - your savings rate, as a percentage of your take-home pay. That is all that matters.

If you can get that savings rate to a minimum of 50% i.e. your living on just half of what you earn, then you're so far ahead of most people in society these days that it's almost unreal.

If you can push that percentage to 60% or even 70% of what you take home, then you're laughing.

The power of this was made apparent when I started to help a non-mustachian friend of mine with his finances. He was spending 78% of his monthly take-home pay and the other 22% really wasn't doing very much either. This guy has a great job, is very "straight and narrow" not extravagant or crazy but he and his wife really weren't self aware when it came to finances.

This post is the reason why I only read this forum intermittently and hardly look at the blog at all any more.